A local court in Bareilly has sharply criticized the police for wrongly accusing two people of forcibly converting Hindus to Christianity. The court ruled that the charges, influenced by pressure from local Hindutva leaders, were baseless, highlighting concerns over the improper use of Uttar Pradesh’s anti-conversion law.
The accused Abhishek Gupta, 41, and Kundal Lal were charged under the state’s anti-conversion law, officially known as the Uttar Pradesh Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Act, 2021, which was driven by the state’s chief minister, Yogi Adityanath. The law prohibits religious conversion through “unlawful means”.
According to the reports, the Bareilly police filed an FIR against Abhishek Gupta and Kundan Lal Kori in May 2022, citing that the duo was forcing Hindu community members to convert to Christianity through inducements during a prayer meeting in Bareilly’s Bichpuri village. However, the court found these allegations to be baseless.
The court while condemning the Bareilly police for misusing the law, called the case “worrying for civilised society. ”The court added that any person could initiate criminal proceedings against any other by filing an FIR to ‘satisfy his/her vested interests'”.
The court further ruled that the case was a manifestation of police misconduct influenced by external forces. The court has ordered legal action against the police officers involved in the misconduct.
“In this case, accused Abhishek Gupta not only lost his job, but he also had to suffer financial and social loss. Accused Kundan Lal has not even been described as present at the spot by any witness. He was not even wanted, yet he was arrested allegedly on the disclosure of accused Abhishek Gupta,” noted the court.
“The police acted under the pressure of the complaint made by the complainant for the sake of publicity and in an unsuccessful attempt to give legal shape to the baseless, fabricated, and imaginary story. Due to this, valuable time, labour, and money of not only the police but also the court was wasted,” added the additional sessions judge Gyanendra Tripathi.
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